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[UPDATED on Friday, Aug. 7 at 8:50pm: NEX has provided an official statement about the incident which has been included in this article.]

Some parts of the ceiling in NEX started leaking water on Saturday (Aug. 6).

This occurred in multiple areas in the mall, causing puddles to form on the floor and pieces of the waterlogged ceiling to fall off, reported Lianhe Zaobao.

Escalators sealed off, shoppers need to use lift

Several areas in the mall were fenced off due to safety considerations.

This included the area outside bubble tea store Tiger Sugar on Basement 1 and Food Republic on Basement 2, which had been flooded with water.

According to Zaobao, the flooded areas have been cleaned up as of 9am on Sunday (Aug. 7).

However, a portion of the ceiling above the atrium was still missing and pieces of it could be seen on the floor.

The debris appears to have been removed when Mothership visited the mall at noon.

Access to that area has been restricted, which includes the escalator outside the food court.

A cleaner at NEX, who came to clean up the flooded areas on Saturday night, told Zaobao the atrium remains sealed off for inspection and repair, so shoppers need to use the lifts instead.

Businesses might be affected

Some affected stores lamented that business on Sunday might be poor due to lower footfall.

Tiger Sugar store manager, surnamed Binh, told Zaobao the water leakage started at around 8:30pm on Saturday.

He shared that mall goers had to watch their step when they were walking by the store to avoid slipping on the wet floor.

"When I opened the store today, the water has been mostly cleaned up. But the nearby escalator has been blocked, so even though it is a Sunday, today's business might turn out to be poor."

Tenants on the first floor, Basement 1 and 2 were affected.

Security staff and mall employees were present to guide shoppers in making detours.

Statement from NEX

The mall has put out a statement about the incident.

“The mall was alerted by our tenant on level 1 about a water backflow incident at around 5.55pm on 6 August and our Operations team onsite had responded immediately to assist. A plumbing issue was subsequently identified to originate from the tenant's floor trap where the water backflow has spread to their retail area and leaked down to B1 and B2. Contractors were deployed to fix the choke which was resolved by 11pm.

The remnant water continued to leak down from the unit and has affected some tenants across B1 and B2.

For the safety of our tenants and shoppers, we have informed affected tenants to suspend operations until the issue has been fully rectified.

We apologise for the inconvenience caused to our tenants and shoppers, and will work with our contractors to rectify the affected areas ASAP.”

Top images by Zheng Zhangxin.